Check Mate
by miss-blanche
Summary: Originally one shot, now a three part series: Stefan and Caroline have a conversation about the state of their relationship. Caroline spends most of it trying to win the game to prove just how little he means to her. Stefan derails her attempts, making both of them question the future of their friendship. Post 6x07, speculation/spoilers for 6x08 and 6x09. S/C.
1. Part 1: The Game

It's been such a long time since I posted anything on here. This is pure procrastination from what I should be doing but I have been super intrigued about this relationship for the last few episodes and I really wanted to see if I could write something. Enjoy :)

* * *

><p>"You didn't invite me to friendsgiving," he says. His tone sounds disappointed and defeated.<p>

"Probably because we're not friends anymore," she says pointedly. She looks up from the pile of clothes she's in the middle of folding and frowns. "Why are you here anyway?"

He pushes off the doorframe and reaches to close the door behind him. She watches his movements guardedly, stopped dead halfway between her dresser and her bed.

"It bothered me that you didn't invite me," he admits, hands pushing into his pockets in a clear sign of discomfort.

"Well it bothered me that you left for three months, ignored me and then lumped me with your newbie vampire girlfriend to look after so you could skip town again," she retaliates.

_Check mate_, some part of her brain thinks cynically.

He nods. She thinks she hears the faint whisper of "fair enough" under his breath.

He sinks onto Elena's bed, hands clasped together in front of him, bent forward like he might be praying in a church pew.

"Okay," she says, annoyance colouring her tone, "are you just going to sit there until…?"

Until what? She forgives him? She gives an inch? She gives any indication whatsoever that she might talk to him again sometime this century?

_Not gonna happen_, she thinks.

"I didn't think about it," he says openly.

He doesn't give her any more than that. She's still standing uncomfortably in the same position and she can't believe he's trying to drag out a conversation she doesn't even want to have.

"Didn't think about what, Stefan?" she asks irritably.

"You," he says blankly.

She feels a wave of heat hit her, the kind that she used to feel when she was human, right before keeling over having seen stars only seconds before hand.

"Well, thanks," she says hollowly. "That's fantastic, Stefan. If all you wanted was to come over and make me feel like more of an idiot about everything you needn't have bothered because I don't even want your friendship anymore, let alone-"

"I wasn't over Elena," he says conversationally. "I don't think I was over her until that day when we had visions of each other."

The words still her dizziness and the room comes into focus. She feels her legs carry her around to the other side of her bed where she sinks into a sitting position facing Stefan directly.

"Go on," she says, against her better judgment, kicking herself for actually giving him some indication she may talk to him again sometime this century. Giving him an inch.

"And then I realised," he says simply. "It's ironic that _those_ visions, which were amazing, could make me realise that I was over her. But I was, and I hadn't realised it until that moment."

She doesn't say anything, waiting for him to continue.

"And then everything exploded," he says with a sigh. "And I died. Everyone died. And everyone came back except Damon and I… lost it."

She feels the sympathy in her expression and wishes she could hide it. Sympathy will only get her abandoned for three months again, she reminds herself sternly.

"I just wanted something hollow to distract me," he says. "Hollow job, hollow problems, hollow relationship. I didn't want a reminder of my real life."

He looks up at her. "_You_ were the biggest reminder of my real life."

She drops her gaze to her hands awkwardly. "What? Do you want me to apologise for making everything so much harder for you when Damon died?" she laughs. "Sorry I offered you my support, that I rang you so often-"

"I don't want you to apologise," he says with an unamused chuckle, "I just want to explain. To make you understand."

She waits again, dragging her gaze reluctantly back to meet his.

"Your friendship was the biggest reminder of my life," he says simply, "and when Enzo said… I just, I just couldn't understand how it could be true. How I could have missed it."

"And for the last couple of days, after everything you said at the hospital… It's all I've thought about."

His gaze is uncomfortably hard, like he's trying to solve a problem with it. She reminds herself to breathe normally, chants at her heart to stop hammering against her chest.

"And then," he laughs, "it bothered me that you didn't invite me to friendsgiving."

She doesn't know why but she stands, turns to go back to folding her clothes. She feels a hand on her shoulder when she does and she pauses, wills herself to not turn around, to resist, even if for a moment longer. Just so that tiny, isolated feeling of resistance might grow enough for her to walk away all together or kick him out of her room.

"Caroline…"

She turns and she hopes her expression is more forceful than it feels, which is not very forceful at all. In fact she's pretty sure she looks embarrassingly stunned.

She's surprised that he looks much the same. Agitated even, gaze darting between her eyes and her lips.

_Don't_, she thinks, but doesn't say.

She opens her mouth with every intention of saying it, but he covers her mouth with his own before she can choke it out.

Her mind stills itself, forgets that she's meant to be angry and unrepentant. The kiss starts out slow and languid, like a slow, relieved sigh. Her body feels weightless in the face of it, like she could be watching the whole thing from the other side of the room.

She feels (or rather observes from the other side of the room) his hand move to her face as he deepens the kiss. She feels (observes) the urgency in it then and responds, turning her head ever so slightly and pressing her body against his firmly.

She gasps in surprise when he pulls away moments later. She feels like her whole body might collapse from the weight returning to it.

"I wanted to see what that felt like," he says.

_What did it feel like_, she screams internally, but before she can act on it some residual part of her starts in annoyance. "You can't just walk into someone's room unannounced and kiss them to find out how you feel about them, you dick!"

She sees the corners of his lips twitch in almost amusement. It's enough to revive the angry, unrepentant part of her brain again.

She walks to the door and opens it pointedly, gaze hard and indignant. He breaks out into an open grin as he walks towards it, ducking his head as he walks out. She makes sure to slam the door when he's out in the corridor. Once she's alone she feels all the air in her lungs expel quickly, like she was holding her breath the whole time.

Seconds later, she hears her phone go off.

She marches to her bedside table and almost breaks the screen in her attempt to access the new message.

**I think I might like not being friends with you.**

She sinks into her bed as the weight goes out of her again, staring at the screen bleakly.

_Check mate_, she thinks to herself.


	2. Part 2: The Rendezvous

I don't know how this turned into a three part thing but the muse wants what it wants, I guess. A neurotic part of me is kind of annoyed that I'm meddling with a perfectly good chess metaphor but again, the muse wants what it wants! Thanks to everyone who read and took the time to review! Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Hey have you spoken to Stefan lately?"<p>

It's been three days since his flirty, pithy text message about liking not being friends and she's heard not a whisper from him since. No walking into her dorm room unannounced, no following her to the hospital with her Mom, no accosting her in the street asking what he can do to get her to forgive him. Nothing. Nada.

It's infuriating.

She really shouldn't be focused on it. They have a whole ordeal to organize in getting Bonnie back without Jo's psychotic brother and she should be completely dedicated to that.

Still, Stefan's behaviour _is_ infuriating.

Elena looks up from rigorously stuffing her handbag. "Uhm… Maybe not since friendsgiving? When I rang to whine to him about how awkward the Liam situation was. Why?"

"No reason," Caroline says quickly, returning to the psychology textbook in front of her on instrumental learning.

"Well I wish he was the one coming with me to meet Liv today," Elena says, pushing a sweater into her bag violently. "As it is I have to spend another day with Damon."

"You're _not_ still pretending that you don't want to see Damon, are you?" Caroline retorts.

"It's awful, Caroline!" she exclaims, "I have to face his disappointment that I've moved on, not that I have, _really_, considering Liam has made it clear he has no interest in dating a vampire, but, whatever.

"Also," she looks up in agitation, "he and Bonnie? I mean it doesn't make sense that he's so concerned about getting her back. He and Bonnie have never liked each other, that I do remember."

"Jealous?" Caroline snorts.

"I'm not jealous, I just…" she stops mid sentence and glares. "Sorry, why were you asking about Stefan again?"

Caroline stalls, trying to think of a reasonable answer to her question.

"Oh you know," she starts flippantly, "for a while there he was making a big point of turning up unannounced, trying to win back my friendship. Hasn't happened in a few days so I figured he's either got the message or died. Not that I care, either way."

"Ahuh."

"Don't 'ahuh' me!" Caroline exclaims, turning in her chair to make sure Elena knows how indignant she is. "I really _don't_ care."

"Yeah I got that, what with you enquiring about his well being and all," Elena replies sarcastically.

Caroline rolls her eyes.

"Alright, I'm ready to go," Elena says with a huff. "Hopefully meeting with Liv actually gets us somewhere. Don't wait up for me tonight. I should probably try and spend some time with Jeremy, regardless of how well this goes."

"Good luck," Caroline says hopefully.

"Thanks."

Elena breezes out the door, lugging her over packed handbag behind her. The snap of the door as it closes shifts Caroline's thoughts to how she can possibly fill the rest of her day.

She could ring Enzo, but she hasn't quite forgiven him yet for killing Tripp.

Matt? Hasn't quite forgiven _her_ yet for Enzo killing Tripp.

Tyler? She winces, maybe not.

She ends up taking out her phone and dialing her Mom's number.

"Hello?" Liz sounds in a rush when she finally picks up on the sixth ring.

"Hey, it's me," Caroline says brightly. "I'm a bit bored with study and wondered if you'd want to meet for coffee?"

"Sorry, honey," Liz says, sounding disappointed, "I'm in the middle of a stolen car situation."

Caroline bites her tongue to stop herself from commenting that a stolen car is a lot less problematic than most of the supernatural things her mother has to deal with at work.

When she puts the phone down she feels utterly ridiculous, _not even my mother wants to hang out with me._

She tries to get back into her compulsory reading but finds herself reading the same line over and over again. She feels agitated and bored, which is never a good combination as a vampire.

She picks up her phone and looks through it absently (well at least she tells herself she'd being absent, despite the fact she lands on Stefan in her contacts within no time at all).

She hesitates before pressing call, biting her fingernails as the line rings.

"Hey."

His voice sounds amazing. She tries to remember the line she was going to lead with next.

"You didn't call me," she decides on, because at the very least it's something she can still be annoyed about, despite still reeling from the sound of his voice and the memory it evokes.

"You didn't text me back," he says simply. He doesn't sound angry but he doesn't sound flirtatious either, like his text message indicated.

She bites her lip. "I didn't know what to say."

There's a long pause before he replies and she feels a surge of anxiety with the silence.

"Do you want to grab dinner, or coffee, or something?" he finally says.

"Yeah, okay," she says, wincing when she realizes how quick her reply is. "Do you want to swing by in an hour or so and we can… I know a nice place… Other than the diner I mean, I feel like I've been there way too much lately and it'd be nice to get out and go somewhere different just so the waitresses don't think I'm the saddest person alive…"

_Shut up, Caroline. _

"Yeah, sounds nice."

"Cool," she says, "Okay, well, I'll see you then, bye."

She hangs up quickly, cringing as she does.

She's glad that she gives herself an hour because it takes her a while to decide on the right outfit. All things considered, finding a dress that says, "I'm still angry at you about ditching me for three months when your brother died – the brother who, incidentally, was dating your ex-girlfriend who also happens to be my best friend – and I'm not sure what you're thinking about all of this and I also don't want to completely ruin our friendship…"

She gives up pretty quickly on finding the perfect dress when she realizes there's no concrete end to what her outfit needs to convey.

She ends up with something blue and floral with thin straps and an A line skirt. She doesn't bother with much make up (mostly because she doesn't want to look like she's tried but also because she's probably too jittery to put it on properly).

When he knocks on the door on the hour, she almost leaps three feet into the air. She takes a deep breath before answering the door, trying to compose herself.

"Hey," she says, her voice just a bit too high. Her eyes rake over him and she thinks he's probably tried to pick an outfit that conveys all the same things she was trying to. His jeans and shirt match her casual clothes perfectly.

He looks good though, really good.

"Hey," he says softly in return.

It's at that point she starts to feel her vampire feelings kicking in, all sex driven and desperate. She closes the door behind her quickly and reminds herself to find some alcohol.

"Thanks for agreeing to come to dinner," he says earnestly as they walk out of the dorms.

"Well I didn't have many other offers so, you were my last resort."

She can't decide if she's trying to be funny and flirty or sarcastic and unrepentant. Maybe she's just trying to have a moan about her lack of good company to the person who used to be on the receiving end of such problems. Maybe it's all three, she has no idea anymore.

As they walk to the restaurant they sink into an uncomfortable silence. She doesn't know what she's meant to be feeling or how she should be reacting. Part of her thinks she should still be trying to be angry (because part of her is still angry_, very_ angry) but overall she just feels jittery at the memory of the other night and how close they are in proximity.

The restaurant is small, family run and Italian. All things Stefan notes in appreciation.

Once they're seated, he starts. "I'm sorry I didn't call over the last few days, I wanted to-"

"Make me wait?"

She accosts the waiter at this point, demanding wine. If she's going to continue saying awkward things without knowing why or what she wants to gain from them, at the very least she's going to have an alibi in the form of complete inebriation.

"No, I just wanted to let you decide if you wanted to see me again," he says genuinely.

She pauses before she replies, trying to gather her thoughts before she voices them. It doesn't go very well (it usually doesn't) and she ends up saying things as she thinks of them instead.

"I don't… I don't know if I wanted to see you again." It seems like a ridiculous thing to say considering she rang him in the first place, which indicates that she _did_ want to see him again, very much so. She shakes her head and continues, "I mean I did… I do, but I'm still angry with you about the summer. Before everything happened, I thought you were amazing, I honestly did. But you really hurt me, Stefan and I'm not sure that I still feel the same-"

She pauses because her throat is closing up and her pulse is pounding and blood is rushing to her face. The memory of him kissing her, the way he looked at the door, the way he made her feel when she opened it, none of it seems to equate to the concept of not feeling the same as she did before.

"Your drinks?"

She jumps slightly at the realization that the waiter is at her side. She watches carefully as he fills her glass and she takes it from him immediately, not bothering to sit it down on the table.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you so badly," he says once the waiter has walked away. "I know it's no excuse but-"

"You wanted a hollow incarnation of life and no reminders of your old one, I know," she says curtly.

"Look Caroline, this probably doesn't make my case seem any better but I'm not nearly as nice as you think I am. Sometimes I am truly selfish. And I'm sorry about that, I really am. I'm sorry if that's changed the way you feel about me because…"

He pauses, struggling to find the right words.

"Because, why?" she prompts.

"Because I see it now," he says quietly. "Over the last few days, when I kissed you, when we are at the hospital, when Enzo pointed it out, all I've done is go over it in my mind. You. You there when no one else was. You going off on a mission with Enzo to try and save me. You falling asleep next to me. You, laughing at me about Katherine. You there for me when I lost my memories. You, "a lot hotter in person" and me noticing because without my memories I could think about something other than Elena."

It happens again, air leaving her lungs in one, big expiration when she didn't even acknowledge the fact she was holding her breath.

"It hasn't," she chokes out.

"What?" he asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"It hasn't… Changed how I feel about you."


	3. Part 3: The Axis Shift

Last part, guys :) Wanted to post it before the ep airs tomorrow. For the sake of emphasis I'll mention there was a swift change in rating once this became a multi chapter story so if that isn't up your alley proceed with caution / if it is, make of it what you will ;) Thanks again to anyone who left a review/faved the story, very much appreciate it! Enjoy.

* * *

><p>"Your garlic bread," the waiter says, breaking their gaze.<p>

"Oh, yeah," Caroline starts, almost knocking over her wine. She goes to make room for the basket but as she does she notices something from across the table.

The look Stefan is giving her is inscrutable (most of his looks are if she's honest). But his hand is clenched in a fist on the table, his grip so tight his knuckles look white.

The words leave her mouth before she can approve them, "can we get the cheque actually?"

She sees Stefan's eyebrows raising in surprise at that.

"You didn't want to order?" the waiter asks her in confusion.

"No, sorry," she says quickly, "big… _emergency._ You know how it is," she finishes lamely, trying to smile politely but looking more awkward than anything.

Neither of them say a word as they pay for their wine and garlic bread. Caroline slips out the door ahead of Stefan, trying to catch her breath outside. When he follows her he doesn't say anything about the change in plans, merely taking her hand.

They walk home like that, normal human speed, hand in hand. Their hands fit together neatly (just like they did the night they fell asleep together in the back of a car).

When they get to her door she turns before unlocking it.

"Elena won't be home tonight," she says quickly, "I mean if you were worried about that…"

"I know," he says simply, "Damon told me they were meeting with Liv."

"Sorry... I just wanted to make sure you knew," she says quickly.

He shakes his head with a faintly muttered, "Don't worry about it." She feels her heart beating palpably as she fiddles with her keys.

"We don't have to..." she hears herself saying awkwardly. "I mean I don't want to rush things or... I just..."

"Caroline-"

"Not that this _is_ a thing yet, to be rushed... Although I guess that was basically a date, so, maybe it is a thing to be rushed-" she wonders if the excessive word vomit built up during the walk home only to explode all over both of them as soon as they arrived at her door. Maybe it was the mention of Elena. She swallows uncomfortably. "-or not rushed, a thing not to be rushed-"

"Caroline."

She looks up from her keys and meets his gaze. She expects frustration or annoyance.

Finds understanding instead.

He moves forward and kisses her then. It feels exactly the same as it did three nights go.

Weightless and amazing.

He presses her into the door and his hands trail slowly up her body from her waist. Her mouth opens in response, deepening the kiss, her hands going straight to his hair.

"We should… Room," she gets out. He nods and she turns quickly to unlock it. He's on her again as soon as she has it open, kicking it shut behind him and pulling her back to him.

She feels him teasing the straps of her dress down her shoulders, mouth moving to her neck. She uses her hands to explore under his shirt, feeling his skin and muscles greedily. He pauses from kissing her to allow her to pull his shirt over his head. It's not the same desperation she's had in the past with others, clothes torn, backs slammed against walls, but it's incredibly satisfying in an entirely different way. It's neither gentle nor demanding, a perfect, relieving intensity that calms her as much as it excites her.

She moans in appreciation as he shifts the dress down further, her breasts spilling out of it. She makes for his belt buckle, unlatching it easily and exploring around the waistband of his boxer shorts. She doesn't notice they've moved backwards until she feels the edge of her bed against the back of her legs. She falls backwards, pulling him on top of her as she does.

She moves her hands back to the waistband of his pants, eliciting a groan. She smiles against his mouth at that, pushing both his jeans and his boxer shorts down just enough to free him of them. He takes the same initiative, leaning up enough to pull down her underwear from underneath her dress.

She pulls him back to her before he's even had the chance to chuck her underwear over the side of the bed. He pushes into her fully then, mouth at her neck. She cries out, daring whichever neighbours are within earshot to complain.

They spend a long time teasing each other and pulling back from the edge only to be pushed back to it. Sometimes it's slow and torturous and other times vampire speed, desperate and fast. By the time he makes her come their remaining clothes have long since been strewn aside. She's on top of him, mouth insistent on his and it feels like she might collapse with the heat of it.

Her release makes him come quickly after. She pauses above him as the importance of the moment kicks in, an almost frown etched into her features.

He reaches up to touch her face, pushing her hair out of the way as he does. "You okay?"

She nods, she doesn't have the first or last idea on how to articulate what she's feeling or why she's feeling it. All she knows is that it feels like an axis shifting, course changing, life altering type of _overwhelming_.

He traces her face softly with his hand, like he might be looking at if for the first time. The overwhelmed feeling sitting on her chest changes somehow, stretching and writhing within her, reaching out to the tips of her fingers and toes. It makes her feel whole somehow, more at ease with the world.

She remembers a permutation of that feeling, back when he answered her "_what do we do now?_" with a simple, "_we go to sleep._"

She rolls off him, coming to rest with her head just below his collarbone. Sighing, she says lightly, "We've ruined our friendship haven't we?"

"Probably," he admits. "Although, I think I might have ruined it first by kissing you the other night, so you can blame me if you want."

She laughs and then asks almost shyly, "Did you really want to kiss me to see what it felt like?"

"Yes," he says earnestly. "I kept thinking that maybe it wasn't real, that I was making it up because the suggestion was there. I kept thinking maybe we were better off friends and that if I kissed you I might have a better hope of working it out."

"I think it might have worked," she says softly.

"Me too," he says.

They both fall silent for a moment until Caroline remembers something important she wanted to work into their conversation, way back before she even dialled his number.

"I'm still angry at you, you know."

"I know."

"I expect lots of apology presents," she says curtly. "Chocolate. Flowers. Grovelling. Make up sex. The whole thing."

"I look forward to it."

"And so help me God if you ever pull a stunt like this summer ever again-"

"I won't."

His conviction silences her. She chances a look up at his face; his eyes are closed but his expression is serious. Settling back against him again she feels his arms pulling tighter around her.

It doesn't take long for him to fall asleep. When he does she feels contented listening to his breathing, rhythmic and slow. She can't remember having had this feeling before after sex, not even with Tyler or Matt. The overwhelming desire to stay exactly where she is is foreign and unusual.

She thinks it might be because he feels more like home than anyone else ever has.


End file.
